Goodyear Just Reinvented the Wheel to Let You Squeeze Your Car Into That Tight Parking Space

Today, we can’t drive our cars sideways. We either have to go forward or backward to move right or left.

But, Goodyear has just reinvented the wheel!

Goodyear has just revealed the tire for the cars of tomorrow. The spherical tire launched at the 86th Geneva International Motor show is called Eagle-360.

The totally round, ball-like tire can adapt to road conditions and allows the car to drive sideways. Automobile engineers have been looking for such technology for decades.

Image courtesy Goodyear

How is a sphere attached to the car’s axles?

The Goodyear Eagle-360 tire is linked to the car by the magnetic levitation (MagLev) rather than axles.

A car with futuristic sphere tires can do much more than the cars of today. The car can go in any direction. But it would require a crazy amount of control, which only a computer can manage.

The ultra-maneuverable car will be able to fit into smaller car parks. The tires are embedded with sensors for increased safety; the tires can communicate with other vehicles on the road. It can monitor its treads and tire pressure. The larger contact patch with the ground means better handling as well.

Nidhi Goyal

Nidhi is a gold medalist Post Graduate in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. You can also find Nidhi on Google+.